Backward Design Lesson Planning for Teachers

Written by Sasha Blakeley

Backward Design Lesson Planning

Lesson planning is one of the most fundamental parts of teaching, but it is rarely discussed with the same frequency and depth as in-class teaching strategies. Lesson plans are the directions teachers write for themselves to ensure that they know exactly what they are going to teach on a given day. Teachers create lesson plans in their own unique way, and because teachers design these documents outside of school hours, the result is highly individual to the educator.

Teachers must ensure that their lesson planning style is effective, allowing them to create engaging lessons with meaningful learning outcomes. Practicing teachers usually have a lesson planning style they feel comfortable with. Prospective teachers learn how to craft effective lesson plans as part of their teacher training. Major licensing tests like the PRAXIS or TExES exam may ask aspiring teachers to build lesson plans as part of the test.

There are many different lesson planning styles, each of which has its own advantages and drawbacks. One lesson planning style that is proving to be effective is backward design lesson planning. Designing a lesson plan ''backward'' may sound counterintuitive, but the process is relatively simple. The main idea behind backward design lesson planning is to start with the learning objectives instead of the learning material. What should students know or understand by the end of the lesson? From there, teachers can work backward to find the best way to reach those learning objectives. This process ensures that lessons have tangible goals, making it easier for teachers to use their time wisely and guarantee a positive learning experience for students.

Backward Design vs. Traditional Lesson Plan

In a traditional lesson plan, also called a topic-driven lesson plan, teachers start by considering the material they need to cover. That material could be a novel chapter, a textbook unit, or a math handout. Once they have established what material to cover in a lesson, teachers can think of engaging, effective ways to guide students through that subject matter. That might mean having students read a chapter of a novel before class and then discussing the themes and characters. It could mean demonstrating a concept outlined in a science textbook or teaching students long division. After the lesson, the final step in the process is assessment — checking how well students have learned the material. Students might write a paragraph or essay about what they read or might complete a quiz or test to check their understanding.

There is nothing inherently wrong with this method; it can be a good way of presenting essential curricula while taking the time to verify student progress. However, it is not the only option and may not be the best choice in all cases. Some teachers have raised questions about how quantifiable student learning is under this model. Are students learning everything they need to know in a given lesson? The concern is that, by focusing on the assignment's topic rather than the desired learning outcomes, it may be easy to lose track of what students are actually retaining, even when carrying out assessments.

Backward design lesson planning reverses a teacher's focus. Instead of concentrating on the material, teachers ask themselves what students should know or be able to do after the lesson that they could not before. To design a lesson plan backward, teachers start with the learning objectives. Then, they formulate an assessment that will accurately reflect student learning at the end of the lesson. The third step is brainstorming the best ways to help students complete that assessment, drawing on whatever materials and strategies are available. The three steps of lesson planning are essentially the same in the traditional and backward design versions, but they are completed in a different order and represent distinct priorities.

Benefits of Backward Design Lesson Planning

There are many potential benefits to backward design lesson planning, though individual teachers' experiences may vary. Some teachers may also find that backward lesson planning takes some time to get used to, especially for those who have spent years using the traditional model. When implemented correctly, a backward design lesson plan can have benefits that include:

Backward design lesson planning can be used in any subject, although some may be more intuitive than others. Some educators might find this teaching style easy and intuitive, while others might find the transition challenging. It is okay to transition from traditional lesson planning gradually, just as it is okay to take a step back and evaluate how well a lesson worked so it can be restructured for future classes.

Goals of Lesson Planning

Some teachers may find lesson planning frustrating, and that frustration is not without reason. Lesson planning can be time-consuming and repetitive work that primarily happens in the evenings after the school day is over. To alleviate some of this frustration, it can be helpful for teachers to examine the goals of lesson planning and reframe their thinking around this essential part of the classroom. That way, the lesson planning process can feel less like a challenge or an obligation and more like an opportunity to get creative with teaching methods. A good lesson plan should create a framework that makes the next day's lesson run smoothly. It is a guideline, a safety net, and a reference point that teachers can use at any time. Some of the goals of lesson plans include:

• Establishing the major elements of a lesson
• Reducing uncertainty about how best to convey information
• Giving teachers something to rely on rather than having to improvise
• Saving time so that teachers can jump smoothly from one activity to the next
• Providing backup activities in case everything is finished too quickly

For students, lesson plans establish order and ensure that their education is streamlined and completed according to clear, research-supported pedagogical theory. Getting good at developing efficient, engaging lesson plans is a skill that most teachers sharpen over several years of practice. It is okay if it does not happen all at once, and it is also okay to switch to a different lesson planning style that makes it more reasonable to meet some of the above goals.

Teacher Guide: Backward Design Steps

The three steps in backward design lesson planning are:

• Identifying learning objectives
• Establishing assessment methods
• Developing lesson activities

This teacher guide will go into more detail about how all of these steps work in practice, using a hypothetical lesson as an example. This style of lesson planning can be used at any level and for any topic, but in this case, it will be used to create a lesson about the timeline of the evolution of life on Earth. This is just one possible way to teach this material. Of course, teachers will need to rely on their own knowledge, school textbooks, and their district's learning objectives to cover this information in more granular detail.

Objectives: Backward Design Lesson Plan

To begin with, teachers should consider the learning objectives of this particular topic. There might be a longer unit that goes into more detail about evolution, but the lesson objective for the first day could be something like: ''Students can explain, in basic terms, the theory of evolution by natural selection. They can describe the approximate timeline for the development of life on Earth and can explain how different living things are related to each other.''

This sample learning objective already has several parts to it: explaining evolutionary theory, establishing a timeline, and describing the connections between living things. Learning objectives should always state clear, precise, and measurable outcomes. They should go beyond what students should understand, as understanding can be challenging to quantify, and they should instead describe students' ability to articulate what they have learned or to put new skills into practice.

Assessment Methods

With the learning objectives established, it is time to come up with strong assessment methods to work toward. Because there are three parts to the learning objective, the assessment should make sure to target all three of those elements. Students don't need to complete a quiz or a big class presentation for every lesson. In this case, the lesson is most likely an introduction to a broader unit. It may be more effective to have a smaller assessment to check on student learning before jumping into more complex topics.

To assess student knowledge after this lesson, teachers might provide students with a set of questions to answer in short paragraph form. Those questions will be tailored to the exact material covered in the lesson, but they could include topics such as:

• Define ''evolution'' and explain how it is connected to ''natural selection.''
• According to current research, when did life most likely originate on Earth?
• What did the earliest lifeforms on Earth look like?
• According to current research, when did plants originate on Earth?
• According to current research, when did mammals originate on Earth?
• A human and a tree may not look very similar. Explain how these two lifeforms are connected to each other in terms of evolution.

If a student can answer these questions competently at the end of the lesson, they could reasonably be said to have met the learning outcomes. Teachers can also test this knowledge by having students quiz each other, having a class discussion, and more; these assessment questions are just one potential way forward.

Lesson Activities

The third and final step of a backward design lesson plan is determining which materials and lesson activities will guide students toward the learning objectives most efficiently. Teachers might decide to start with a class discussion to see what students already know. They might give a lecture or show students a short film covering some of the necessary materials. There should always be time for students to ask questions and test their knowledge with a practical, ideally collaborative, activity. Role-playing, drawing various lifeforms, discussing the relationships between living things, and many other activities may be appropriate, depending on students' learning levels.

Sample Lesson Plan

Some teachers may benefit from creating practice lesson plans before using backward design lesson planning in their classroom. This is a sample lesson plan for a physics module about air resistance.

Physics lessons with a practical component like this are a valuable opportunity to test backward design lessons because students will have hands-on activities to help solidify the information.

Involving Students in Syllabus Design

In the traditional model, syllabus design and lesson planning are generally only a teacher's job. It is a behind-the-scenes job, and students only see the lesson itself, not the work that went into creating it. One of the advantages of backward design lesson planning is that students can be more involved in their own learning.

In some cases, it can be frustrating for students to sit through lessons without being sure what, exactly, they were supposed to learn. When teachers are upfront about the learning outcomes for a particular lesson, students have a clear goal and may be more engaged with the learning material. They know that by the end of the lesson, they should be able to explain what evolution or air resistance is, so they will be able to focus on those goals throughout the learning experience.

Transparency makes it easier to have a genuinely collaborative school environment for students and teachers. Everyone can work toward the same goal — the learning objectives — with minimal confusion or frustration. Teachers can encourage students to see classroom activities and assignments as opportunities to achieve the lesson objectives and do well on the assessments. This clarity can help students feel more engaged with their own learning. It can help them understand the teaching and learning process rather than being passive recipients of teachers' lessons. Involving students is also a great way to get feedback on what is working and what needs to change. Education is a dynamic and ever-changing process, and teachers should not shy away from the opportunity to hear from their students about their experiences.

Teacher Evaluation of Lesson Plans

It is often a good idea to allow students to give regular feedback on lesson plans and lesson outcomes. That might mean being open to verbal feedback during or after a lesson, but it might also mean asking students for more formal, written feedback. After a lesson, though certainly not after every lesson, teachers can ask students questions, including:

• What do you think the learning objectives were for this lesson? How do you know?
• Do you think you completed these learning objectives?
• What was memorable about this lesson? What was forgettable?
• Which activities did you find most and least engaging? Why?
• Do you have any further questions about the lesson material?

This kind of feedback can be eye-opening for teachers. Sometimes, it is challenging to evaluate how effective a lesson will be for those on the receiving end of it, especially for teachers who are using a new kind of lesson plan.

In addition to student feedback, teachers can create their own evaluations of how things went. What felt like it was working well? Where did things fall flat? Which questions prompted enthusiastic discussion? Which ones seemed to be confusing for students? With all of this information in mind, teachers can revise their lesson plans for future use.

Backward design lesson planning takes practice and is not a catch-all solution. Ongoing engagement and a desire to continue improving educational materials are necessary for teachers and students to succeed in using this educational framework.